Posted on 08/31/2006 6:51:35 AM PDT by slowhand520
SOCOM Ping
Makes about as much sense as having a gunship pilot haul MRE's and toilet paper. The Air Force doesn't do it.
WTF???? Training spec ops soldiers is about as dangerous as it gets. I know many killed in training accidents and I can point to long walls with pictures of dead SF soldiers - nearly all killed in training accidents.
Apparently they are.
'Some SEALs have told me that actual operations seem not nearly as tough as their training."
Wow....nothing but the most respect for these guys. They sound like a seriously tough bunch.
I didn't know that fighting terrorist guerrillas in deadly combat is an equivalent assignment to carrying around food and asswipe.
Thanks for the clarification.
No, what he is saying is that SEALs are specially trained for certain missions, and simple search and destroy missions like the one described are a misuse of that resource. There are thousands of soldiers capable of performing under those circumstances but can't do the kind of work SEALs are routinely assigned.
I didn't get that (SEALS too good for combat). I would suggest the analogy of using your field-goal kicker as an offensive lineman...
My point and I did have one was that it makes no sense to waste highly-trained assets like SEALS or AC-130 pilots on routine missions like encirclement of the enemy or hauling "asswipe" as you so crudely put it.
From talking to people who have actually been on such missions recently, I know they aren't exactly "simple" and plenty of missions can require skills that special forces servicemen like SEALs can provide.
I see a lot of people, including retirees and veterans who are fighting the last war in their heads, sniping in the media at the command decisions made by people who are in the thick of the war.
My presumption, as every American's should be, is that the line officers in the field who are fighting this war are given the authority to make tactical decisions for a reason - that reason being that they are there on the ground and they know what they are doing.
I'm tired of armchair quaterbacks like the egomaniacal Marcinko badmouthing people who are fighting our enemies instead of writing bestsellers.
Fighting guerrillas in urban terrain like Ramadi is hardly routine.
SEALs have a lot to offer is such environments that other people on the scene may not be able to.
This is not exactly encircling a column of uniformed enemy elements on open ground.
Stopped reading right there. This drip is lost.
ALL military personnel are dispensable assets. SEALs are no different.
"PRIMADONA ALERT"
And quite possibly a...
"FUTURE LIBERAL PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTEE ALERT"
(2) Marcinko is a jailbird with a federal fraud conviction.
(3) Marcinko works as a motivational speaker.
Upshot of all this: anyone who takes this self-promoting lunatic as an authority on anything other than his own opinions and prejudices is making a big mistake.
Well there's no draft and some full time and reserve Army\Marine units have done 2 or 3 tours in Iraq and others have had their time there extended considerably.Moral of the story the cupboards kinda thin !!!
"So he's arguing that SEALs are too good for combat. Interesting perspective."
This is an old story where Special Forces soldiers are thrown into battle by short thinking commands, what happens is they fight as regular infantry and die as regular infantry, but then when their special training is needed they aren't available.
Look at all the ground combat troops that die to save pilots, it is simply because it takes so long, and costs so much to replace the pilot.
Would you use your linguists interchangeably with your other troops in a combat situation?
As in all aspects of life you have to use your assets in a wise way, like the article said, it will take two years to supply a replacement for that SEAL.
The article itself was written by a marine infantryman.
If you read the aricle he was fighting as infantry, none of his special skills were needed, the skills that it takes two years to instill, and the rare, unique qualities of the individual were wasted on that mission.
If the commanders had it to do again, do you think they would not have replaced the special operator with a line infantryman?
If you were a trained sniper, how many troops would you let pass to get a special operator, or a pilot, or a linguist, or an officer, or a doctor?
In warfare not all deaths are equal, and the soldiers know it, they know that the efforts to save six fighter pilots will be greater than the efforts to save six artillerymen, not because of a class difference but because of the investment in the individuals, and the difficulty in replacing them.
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